Senate Confirms Todd Blanche as Attorney General by One-Vote Margin
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Todd Blanche was confirmed as U.S. attorney general in a 50-49 Senate vote, with two Republican senators joining Democrats in opposition.
The Senate voted early Saturday to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general, edging his confirmation by a single vote, 50 to 49. The two Republican senators who opposed him, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined all Democrats in the dissenting bloc.
Blanche, who previously served as deputy attorney general in the second Trump administration and acted as attorney general after Pam Bondi’s removal, thanked the chamber in a social-media post, saying he was "deeply honored by the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me to lead the Department of Justice."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the confirmation as "a huge win for President Trump and our country" and called Blanche a "phenomenal" attorney general.
The confirmation came after a pivotal vote from Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, whose support offset the opposition of Collins, Murkowski and the absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Blanche also secured backing from Republicans John Cornyn, Thom Tillis, and John Curtis after negotiations that led him to rescind a May directive establishing a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund and to narrow the scope of a tax-audit immunity agreement for Trump, his family and businesses.
During his June hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Blanche said the fund was "dead" and that the department was not moving forward with it. He later issued an order canceling the fund and clarified that the immunity deal applied only to claims arising from already-filed tax returns for the president, his two oldest sons and the Trump Organization.
Blanche’s confirmation was also scrutinized for his role in the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. He oversaw the release of more than two million files, acknowledged errors in the release of unredacted survivor information, and met with survivors of Epstein’s crimes, a meeting some described as a procedural exercise aimed at securing votes.
The narrow vote underscores the partisan split in the Senate over Blanche’s past work defending President Trump in criminal and civil matters, as well as concerns about the department’s independence and recent policy decisions.